8/8/2019 The Haitian Chronicle Newsletter #4

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The Haitian Chronicle Newsletter of the Fall 2010 Haiti Servant Event Team  Martin Luther Chapel – Haiti Lutheran Mission Society – Immanuel Lutheran Church

Haiti Team Members Step Up!

Leadership and coordinating responsibilities for the Haiti ServantEvent Team are as follows:

Baggage, relief & gear John Partridge & Rich Bearup 

Chapel base camp David Dressel

Communications Wes Thorp 

Devotions Judy Bearup

First aid Cindy Herfindahl

Prayer journals Louise Partridge

VBS Gladys Thorp & Joan Mayer 

Team leader Rich Bearup 

Issue 4 September 1, 2010

rbearup@cablespeed.com 

thehaitianchronicles.posterous.com

http://www.martinlutherchapel.org/

Next Team Meeting 

Our Haitian Servant Team

next meets on Thursday September 23 at 7:00 pm at 

Martin Luther Chapel 

(Garden Level). We will 

discuss final plans, news and

questions for our trip.

Welcome Bob Mayer,

Joan Mayer & Cindy

Herfindahl! 

We welcome Bob Mayer,

Joan Mayer and Cindy

Herfindahl to our Haiti

Team! Bob is a retired

clergyman, Joan is a retired

social worker and Cindy is

WKAR’s Senior Development

Director at Michigan State

University. We are excited

to be working with you!

8/8/2019 The Haitian Chronicle Newsletter #4

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Haitian workers are soft-spoken, incredibly strong,

believe in teamwork, knowledgeable, excellent teachers and

have a world-class work ethic. These are just a few of the

impressive attributes of these amazing people. 

Elucie, Petous, Claybert, Omyiata,

Loggia.

These are just a few of the stalwart

Haitian workers who guide and

direct our team’s wor k at the

orphanage. They are patient and

love to teach (so long as work keeps

getting done!). Their skill and

strength are matched sets, like the

twin giants Fafsner and Fasolt of the

opera Das Rheingold. 

Elucie serves as the construction

overseer and general contractor. She

is the widow of slain Haiti Lutheran

Church leader, Pastor Jean Louis.

She has presided over all of the

many Haitian Lutheran Mission

Society construction projects.

Although her husband is gone, she

will continue in this important

leadership role.

Petous (pictured at top right ) is the

foreman. He makes key job site

decisions and quarterbacks all

aspects of daily work. He has the

ability to supervise workers with a

quiet-but-respected management

style. When he needs to correct

someone’s work, he does so with a

touch as light as an orchestral

 pianissimo. 

In addition to being in charge of the

 job site each day, he works very

hard alongside Haitian and

American workers. He takes no

short cuts nor does he allow himself 

any special privileges. In my

estimation, he is a great leader.

Omiyata is Petous’ right hand andhas special knowledge of 

engineering, blueprints andconstruction. He was the lone

member of the Haitian work crew

who accompanied the U.S. andHaitian engineers on their

inspection of the orphanage in

March. It fell to him to describe

and explain the repairs and

structural reinforcements the

engineers wanted to Elucie.

Loggia (pictured at right center) is

a man of the proverbial few words

but his legedermain with heavy

blocks and buckets of mortar is awonder.

Claybert (pictured at bottom right) 

is a lovely man with an infectious

smile and laugh. His two young

daughters are often present and

pitch right in. How they scamper

across the sharp-edged concrete

rubble barefoot is beyond me. As

of last March, Claybert and his

small family were living in a tinytwo-room area built into the

security wall midway between the

orphanage and medical clinic.

It isn’t uncommon for someone

walking down the dirt road past the

orphanage to stop and ask for work.

After some rapid-fire Q&A

between Elucie or Petous and the

one doing the inquiring, frequently

they will be added to the day’swork detail, sometimes longer if 

they prove themselves.

Each member will find their own

appraisal of these fellow workers to

be the most meaningful. I often

think about them when back in

Michigan, and how they are

supporting their families. But I

wonder most what the orphanage at

Lilavois means to each of them. Rich Bearup

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Bricks.wmvNews from Haiti

f you have the time and interest to stay informed about developments in Haiti, whether before and/or after our team

rip in October, I’d like to recommend a couple of sources.

Google Haiti News: You can sign up for news updates via Google. Go to Google, News, type in Haiti on the searcbar, and then sign up for Google Haiti Alerts at the bottom of the page. Google will send you links to news and web

nformation on Haiti once a week.

Haiti Headlines: Go to http://www.haitiheadlines.com 

CNN: Go to CNN.com and type in Haiti.

MSNBC: Go to MSNBC.com

There is a good, if sobering, article from the Miami Herald you may wish to check out. Go to http://www.

Miamiherald.com and look for an August 31, 2010 article entitled, “Violence Marring Haiti’s Recovery.”

Bricks.wmv 

News about Haiti

If you have the time and interest to stay informed

about developments in Haiti, whether before and/or

after our team trip in October, the following sources

are good places to start:

Google Haiti News: You can sign up for news

updates via Google. Go to Google, News, type in

“Haiti” on the search bar, and then sign up for

Google Haiti Alerts at the bottom of the page.

Google will send you links to news and web

information on Haiti every weekend.

Haiti Headlines: Go tohttp://www.haitiheadlines.com

CNN: Go to CNN.com and type in Haiti on the

search bar

MSNBC: Go to MSNBC.com and type in Haiti on

the search bar

There is a good, if sobering, article from the Miami

Herald you may wish to check out. Go to

http://www. Miamiherald.com and look for an

August 31, 2010

article entitled,

“Violence

Marring Haiti’s

Recovery.”

Arrival Scenes from the

Port au Prince Airport

Picking buddies . . .

Finding bags . . . .

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Team Member Profile: Rich Bearup

Team Member Profile: Rich Bearup  A self-described “   fifty-something pilgrim” now 

heading to Haiti for a fourth time in as many years, here he tells what Haiti means to

him. 

Psychologists doubtless have a clinical term and drawn-out analysis for people like me because, frankly, part of Haiti’s allure is the risk involved in going there.  It isn’t the kind of chance-taking where the riskier the better. It’s therisk in knowing that once I set foot on Haitian soil, I am in a different world and out of my comfort zone. I eitherdraw upon, or develop, traits not normally used in my daily life.

No Adverse Experiences No group with whom I’ve gone to Haiti has ever had a major, adverse experience despite travel and health warningsfrom the State Department and Centers for Disease Control. There have been no major work-related injuries (thanks

be to God). There have been some bouts of gastrointestinal unpleasantness but those who go to south-of-the-

border resorts and cruises sometimes share similar stories.

Still, Haiti means more to me than putting myself  “out there.” Far more enticing are the people I’ve met. I cannot

begin to describe how much I admire the way they carry their heavy burdens of daily life with such dignity, poise,

spirituality and grace. To be sure, the extent of their sheer human want is extreme. Malnutrition, starvation and

disease play all-too-active roles in Haitian society (and those factors were present even before the devastatingearthquake in January).

Haiti Servant Event Gives, But Also Gets Devotees of Tony Robbins (the self-help guru) should come to Haiti and meet some of the best life coaches on theplanet. Similarly, adherents of Norman Vincent Peale should come listen to what seems like an entire nation filled

with positive thinkers of the first order. In my experiences, Haitians laugh easily, smile broadly, are generous with

outsiders, have a deep well-spring of patience, and many really do pray without ceasing. They are incredibly strong,

very modest, gifted improvisers amid their circumstances and keenly discerning of others.

Building an Orphanage! Last but not least among what Haiti means to me is the work we do. By U.S. standards, I suspect that taking fiveyears to build (and rebuild) an orphanage would strike many as grim, s-l-o-w and lacking any sizzle in the steak. Butin truth, I think it’s one of the most important things I’ve done with my life. In a sense it is nation-building at itscore. Building this orphanage at Lilavois – which will be called Les Petites Filles de Catherine Déborah Luther (Catherine Deborah Luther Orphanage for Young Girls) -- will allow countless children to live, grow, love, learn,leave and move on in service to God, country and humankind.

Who could ask for more?

Rich Bearup